Books

Alaska book week: A look at some great wildlife reading

At the urging of 49 Writers and book-lovers throughout the state, Gov. Sean Parnell has proclaimed Oct. 8-15 Alaska Book Week, a statewide celebration of books by Alaskans or about Alaska. We do love to read about ourselves.

In that spirit, here's a mixed bag of books about hunters, trappers, guides, naturalists, game wardens, and wildlife biologists who have left their mark on Alaska. Before wildlife biology became a scientific specialty and wildlife management became a profession, hunters, naturalists, and zoologists recorded their observations of wildlife and collected specimens for museums and universities. When efforts to enforce game regulations got more serious in the early 20th century, another wildlife-related profession evolved -- game wardens. But before the advent of well-trained, government-funded professionals, some hunters and big game guides enforced rules of fair chase and lobbied to protect areas as wildlife refuges.

"Alaska's No. 1 Guide: The History and Journals of Andrew Berg, 1869-1939" by Catherine Cassidy and Gary Titus Berg was a Finn who immigrated to Alaska in 1869 at age 16. He sought a country with big game animals to hunt and furbearers to trap, a wild land without rules, regulations, private property, and few people. He found it on the Kenai Peninsula. Berg became a big-game guide, his ability to call moose deemed unusual at the time. In 1897 he guided Dall DeWeese, the first person known to travel to the Kenai Peninsula specifically to hunt big game and collect specimens for the Smithsonian Institution. In some of the many articles DeWeese wrote about this and subsequent hunts, he argued for game regulations to protect moose, caribou, and Dall sheep from market hunting and wanton waste. Berg agreed. He had little use for no regulations if that meant no wild game.

DeWeese's articles also cemented Berg's reputation as a guide. Beginning in 1908, nonresidents hunting in the territory were required to obtain a hunting license and, on the Kenai Peninsula, to hire a registered guide. Berg became the state's first licensed guide. Guides were directed to report game violations to the nearest game warden and send monthly reports on game abundance. Berg wrote the territorial governor frequently to complain about hunting violations, receiving his just deserts in 1920 when he was appointed a game warden for the Alaska Game Commission.

He continued his correspondence with the governor (many letters are in the book). Following a visit to Kenai, shortly after his appointment, he complained "last night i [sic] saw a lot of men drunk mostly wite [sic] men." In another letter Berg explained how he rescued moose struggling to walk on the ice of Tustumena Lake. He would unload his dog sled, wait for the moose to stand, and shove the sled against its front legs. When the moose toppled into the sled, Berg would throw himself across its withers and shout to the dogs to head for shore.

"Mountain Man: The Story of Belmore Browne, Hunter, Explorer, Artist, Naturalist and Preserver of Our Northern Wilderness" by Robert Bates. Browne was a larger-than-life character. From 1902 to 1905, he visited Southeast Alaska, the Kenai Peninsula, the Alaska Peninsula and British Columbia collecting collected specimens for the American Museum of Natural History. Most of the specimens were fashioned into museum displays or collections, but among them was a live animal – the first Alaska brown bear cub to be captured for a zoological park. Browne's artistic talents were a valuable component of these expeditions, and many of his sketches and paintings are included in the book. He was a keen observer of wildlife and Native peoples and an engaging writer. The biography includes a number of articles written by Browne on mountain sheep, moose, caribou, brown bears and other outdoor subjects.

Browne is better known for his three exhausting attempts to climb Denali, described in "The Conquest of Mt. McKinley." In the early 20th century, getting to the base of the mountain could be more difficult than climbing the peak itself.

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"The Wilderness of Denali: Explorations of a Hunter-Naturalist in Northern Alaska" by Charles Sheldon. By the time he explored and hunted the mountains and valleys north of Mount McKinley (he called it by the local Native name, Denali) in 1906-1908, Sheldon was considered America's "most famous big-game hunter." Independently wealthy, his mission was to hunt, collect specimens for the U.S. Biological Survey, and study the habits of wildlife in North America's most remote wild lands. In 1906, the easiest way to get to the foothills of Denali involved steamship from Seattle to Skagway, rail to Dawson, and paddle-wheelers down the Yukon River and up the Kantishna River, at which point he switched to horses. Sheldon built a cabin on the upper Toklat River and spent one winter and three summers in the center of what was to become Denali National Park and Preserve. Sheldon was interested in more than just big game animals. His collections of bird and small mammal specimens and detailed notes were valuable contributions to the natural history of Alaska.

Sheldon was impressed with the abundance and diversity of wildlife living in the shadow of Denali. He chafed at the increased commercial hunting of Dall sheep and other big game to feed people as far away as Fairbanks. Believing the completion of the Alaska Railroad would doom Denali's wildlife, Sheldon initiated the campaign to protect the area as a national park. At his urging, with the crucial support of the Boone and Crockett Club and the heightened public interest in Denali following publication of Browne's book, Congress established Mount McKinley National Park in 1917.

"Alaska's Wolf Man: The 1915-55 Wilderness Adventures of Frank Glaser" by Jim Rearden. Glaser was a man of his time, and at that time Alaskans had little use for predators. Glaser trapped, guided hunters, and collected specimens for the U.S. Biological Survey. He spent his first decade in Alaska as a market hunter, shooting game to sell to road construction crews building the Richardson Highway through the Alaska Range. The Alaska Road Commission and Army Signal Corps paid 24 cents a pound for Dall sheep, caribou, and moose meat, a substantial income for a skillful hunter willing to put his back into it. Glaser would shoot two rams and leave one carcass cooling on a glacier while he packed the first 100-120 pound load to camp. Grizzly bears were abundant in the Alaska Range, and they often found Glaser's cache before he could return for it. "I saw no value in grizzlies. They were simply dangerous pests that stole my meat." He displayed a more complex attitude toward wolves. Working as a predator control agent for the Fish and Wildlife Service from 1937 to 1955, Glaser shot, trapped, and poisoned hundreds of wolves. Determined to kill as many as he could, he admired them for their wild nature and hunting skills.

"Two in the Far North" by Margaret Murie. Olaus Murie came to Alaska in 1920 to study caribou for the U.S. Biological Survey. Mardy grew up in Fairbanks and met Murie while she was in college. Shortly after becoming the first female graduate of the University of Alaska, she married Murie and accompanied him on many field trips to remote corners of the state. She wasn't a trained biologist, and her book emphasizes people and places -- but her concern for wild places and wild animals underscores every adventure. The Muries left Alaska in the mid-1950s, and Olaus became the director of The Wilderness Society.

They found their way back to Alaska in 1956 to study wildlife in the eastern Brooks Range, primarily along the Sheenjek River. Campfire talk – the party of seven included Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas – swirled around protecting the north and south slopes of the eastern Brooks Range, one of America's last wild areas. The Tanana Valley Sportsman's Association supported protection for the huge area – about 9 million acres – that the Muries sketched based on their aerial reconnaissance and field studies. In 1960 it became the Arctic Wildlife Range, a refuge where wildlife would be protected from development, hikers would be protected from motorized harassment, and hunting, fishing and trapping would continue in perpetuity.

"A Naturalist in Alaska" by Adolph Murie. Adolph came to Alaska in 1922 to help his brother, Olaus, study caribou. He left Alaska to hone his professional skills in the Lower 48. By the 1930s, Alaskans believed wolves were increasing and demanded more wolf control. They got it. Alaskans expected wolves in Mount McKinley National Park to be no exception. Wolves were shot in the park, but the National Park Service also assigned Murie to study the relationship between the park's wolves and Dall sheep. His research was the first scientific study of wolves in their natural habitat. Dall sheep inhabit mountainous terrain. In his first year, 1939, Murie walked 1,700 miles throughout the park. By the end of the three-year study he had picked up skulls of 829 Dall sheep (to determine the cause and age of death) and 1,174 wolf and 201 grizzly bear scats (to analyze their diets). He continued studying the park's wildlife until the late 1950s or 1960s.

Murie was a consummate naturalist, interested in all the park's wildlife. He wrote books on the park's wolves, grizzlies and birds. "A Naturalist in Alaska" provides both an overview and a unifying narrative of his research.

Chapters focus on the species of most concern to hunters – wolves, grizzlies, Dall sheep, caribou, moose – but also describe the habits of wolverines, foxes, lynx, and the haymouse (for the large mounds of grass it harvests for winter food, but now known as the singing vole for its warning call, a high-pitched trill). Murie's book, "The Wolves of Mt. McKinley," and his earlier research on coyotes in Yellowstone National Park, ended the practice of predator control in the two national parks.

"Sam O. White, Alaskan: Tales of a Legendary Wildlife Agent and Bush Pilot" by Jim Rearden. Rearden anchored this biography on about 50 stories White wrote in the late 1950s, so much of it is in White's own words. From 1922 to 1925 White conducted summer surveys in Alaska for the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey and trapped in winter. In 1927 he became a game warden for the Alaska Game Commission and was posted to Fort Yukon. By 1929, frustrated by the impossibility of patrolling thousands of square miles of interior Alaska by dog team, boat, and on foot, he learned how to fly and purchased an airplane for $3,500, a considerable drain on his $2,800 annual salary. In addition to enforcement, White pioneered the use of an airplane for moose surveys. After reporting results of his first aerial moose survey to his headquarters in Juneau, he was told "take annual leave for that day, and get out with your dog team and do a proper survey."

White treated locals fairly, understanding the necessities of living in the Bush, but he came down hard on trappers who used poison baits, market hunters, those who killed game to feed dogs, and hunters who shot moose cows and calves indiscriminately. A federal judge in Fairbanks told White the country was still developing, and he should let old-timers shoot moose any time they wanted. White asked, "What are future generations going to do?" "They won't need game," the judge replied.

In 1941, at the height of war fever, White's attempts to enforce the purchase of nonresident hunting licenses by the increasing numbers of soldiers coming to Alaska was undercut by the military, local businessmen, and his own boss in Juneau. Lacking support from the Alaska Game Commission, politicians, and community leaders, White resigned and became a bush pilot.

"Slim Moore, Alaska Master Guide: A Sourdough's Hunting Adventures and Wisdom" by Jim Rearden. Moore became a big game guide in 1931 and guided hunters for nearly 50 years. After taking one of his clients to McNeil River, he was awed by the concentration of brown bears fishing for salmon, claiming later there was "almost no hunting to it." In 1950 he urged the Alaska Game Commission to prohibit bear hunting near McNeil River because "It's the perfect place for bear viewing." The area was closed to brown bear hunting in 1955 and, with statehood, became one of Alaska's two state game sanctuaries. In the interest of fair chase, Moore also campaigned to end the shooting of big game animals on the same day a hunter was airborne, using the term "crop duster" to describe guides who used airplanes to direct hunters to game or drive game to hunters. Moore was a great storyteller, and Reardon preserves the well-honed edge of his tales.

"North to Wolf Country: My Life Among the Creatures of Alaska" by James Brooks. Brooks came to Alaska in 1940 at age 19. He bought a dog team and trapped along the Kantishna River. He attended the University of Alaska, where he obtained his master's degree studying the life history of walruses. He soon learned of Bristol Bay's Walrus Islands, the only place in Alaska where walruses regularly hauled out on land. Brooks didn't get to visit these remote islands until 1958. Worried that walruses might desert their critical haulouts if hunting increased in the Walrus Islands, he also believed that money from guiding non-Native walrus hunters would create jobs in remote villages, ensuring the conservation of walruses. Before statehood, it took an act of Congress to allow walrus hunting by anyone other than Alaska Natives, and Brooks' lobbying effort was probably his first venture into the politics of wildlife management.

In 1959, midway through his PhD, Alaska became a state. One of the few university-trained wildlife biologists in the state, Brooks was appointed the first director of the Division of Game. He lobbied the constitutional delegates for a provision to minimize the influence of politicians in fish and game management, arguing for a bipartisan, independent commission to manage the state's wildlife resources. He lost that one, but helped create the Board of Fish and Game and wrote many of the state's original game regulations. Working behind a desk in Juneau, he didn't forget the walruses. The Walrus Islands were the first federal lands conveyed to the new state, and the first legislature created the Walrus Islands State Game Sanctuary to protect the sensitive haulouts.

"Attending Alaska's Birds: A Wildlife Pilot's Story" by Jim King. King came to Alaska in 1949. He worked briefly as a summer ranger in Mount McKinley National Park and attended the University of Alaska. Joining the Fish and Wildlife Service, he did brief stints as a fish and game warden before becoming a refuge manager in western Alaska. King was a pilot, and his book is infused with the joy and necessity of flying bird surveys. He became familiar with remote seabird rookeries in western Alaska. A model of governmental efficiency, he and his crew once captured over 10,000 ducks in a single trap, using a floatplane to drive them across a large lake. The leg bands from just these ducks were recovered from 45 states, eight Canadian provinces, nine other countries in Central and South America, and Russia. King developed techniques and databases for surveying waterfowl across the entire state and led that effort for decades.

His familiarity with waterfowl and seabird habitat across the state, and decades of meticulous records, resulted in a temporary assignment to Washington, D.C., in 1971 to help the decision-makers create new wildlife refuges during the Alaska National Interest Lands Act (ANILCA) proceedings. Technically speaking, his role was to be a technical advisor, but when Congressman John Dingell from Michigan asked, "Just what is it you want?" King showed him a list of Alaska's major waterfowl breeding areas and included about 2,000 islands important for nesting seabirds. Most of the wildlife refuges created under ANILCA, including Yukon Flats and Yukon Delta, were on King's list.

"Bear Wrangler: Memoirs of an Alaska Pioneer Biologist" by Will Troyer. Troyer began his career in 1951, working as a fish and game warden with the Fish and Wildlife Service in Southeast Alaska. He became the manager of the Kodiak National Wildlife Refuge in 1955. This was when it was possible to photograph nearly all of the federal wildlife agency's Alaska field personnel – about 40 middle-aged white men – in one small room. Troyer wanted to capture and tag brown bears to better understand their life history and movements. Without ruining one of the best stories in the book, let me just say that the least dangerous part involved slipping a bucket, containing a cloth soaked in ether, over the bear's head. Using this technique, he captured and recaptured over 200 of the world's largest terrestrial predators in six years.

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Troyer played a pivotal role during the debate over ANILCA. Many in the Fish and Wildlife Service believed new refuges should be waterfowl habitat and militantly enforced that policy among their staffs. Troyer believed wildlife refuges should also conserve populations of large mammals, like bears and caribou. The Alaska Peninsula and Becharof national wildlife refuges were created because Troyer disobeyed a direct order. One doesn't mind a good ass-chewing when you know you've done the right thing.

So many books, so little time. Two other books worth noting are Sherry Simpson's "The Way Winter Comes" and Ray Tremblay's "On Patrol: True Adventures of an Alaska Game Warden."

One of the best writers in Alaska, Simpson stalks Vic Van Ballenberghe while he's observing moose in Denali National Park and captures some of Vern Beier's close encounters with brown bears on Admiralty Island. Tremblay is a compelling storyteller with a wry sense of humor.

Most of these books include lots of photos of people, places and wildlife. Read any one for pleasure and insight. Read them all for a crash course in the history of wildlife conservation Alaska-style.

Alaska Dispatch encourages a diversity of opinion and community perspectives. The opinions expressed herein are those of the contributor and are not necessarily endorsed or condoned by Alaska Dispatch.

Rick Sinnott is a former Alaska Department of Fish and Game wildlife biologist.

Rick Sinnott

Rick Sinnott is a former Alaska Department of Fish and Game wildlife biologist. Email him: rickjsinnott@gmail.com

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